Wednesday, February 11, 2015

Dimer Badge and the Shooting Meter in NBA 2K15

Last night while playing NBA 2K15 I realized that the reason my open three-pointers don't drop with the consistency that I've long been used to is that the developers have unwittingly taken steps to nullify it.The reason "Zig Zag" and Iso-3PT strategies work so well compared to the conventional means of generating three-point looks (something referred to in NBA circles as "Ball Movement") is that exceptionally poor badge balance allows players (scrubs) to get away with what would otherwise be ineffective basketball strategies.Badges have a powerful impact on various facets of the game, and if a roster editor doesn't have a firm understanding of their effect on game mechanics, the effects can be devastating.

More specifically, via NBA2K4LifeThis skill is reserved for top-notch passers who are known for hitting open guys in the correct position to score. Dimer fires off when passing the ball (not from the post) to an open teammate. The pass will hit the receiver on point and will give him up to a 10% bonus on two-point shots and a 4% bonus on three-point shots, so long as the potential made shot by the shooter would result in an assist for the Dimer.

At press time, there are only 22 NBA players with any level of Dimer. One of those is Steve Nash, who is out for the year. To say this is ludicrously imbalanced compared to the other skill badges might be the 2K understatement of the year.As I covered last week, 87 players have Posterizer, which is pretty much ever player in the NBA remotely capable of dunking. 68 have Lob City Finisher, which is probably every single player whose even caught a Lob this year. 63 have Tenacious Rebounder, which is basically every PF/C in an NBA rotation. These badges were given out like consolation prizes at your local church league. Everyone's a winner! Unless you're a passer (and consequently, a shooter; more on this later).Ironically, Dimer is perhaps the easiest skill badge to evaluate. Merely posting Assist rates makes it look like 2K has no idea what they're doing here.POINT GUARDS (25+ AST%)48.5 Ricky Rubio (Gold)46.1 John Wall (Gold)45.9 Russell Westbrook (Bronze)44.4 Chris Paul (Gold)44.2 Ty Lawson (Gold)42.0 Michael Carter-Williams (Bronze)41.4 Rajon Rondo (Gold)40.4 Brandon Jennings (Silver)*40.3 Steve Nash (Gold) - 2014 Stats39.6 Jeff Teague (Bronze)38.2 Stephen Curry (Gold)37.3 Mo Williams35.9 Tony Wroten34.6 Jrue Holiday (Silver)34.0 Kyle Lowry (Silver)34.0 Andre Miller33.6 D.J. Augustin32.3 Deron Williams (Bronze)32.2 Dennis Schroder31.0 Elfrid Payton30.7 Kendall Marshall (Gold)30.4 Shelvin Mack30.3 Derrick Rose30.1 Nick Calathes29.7 Jose Barea29.0 Damian Lillard28.8 Jeremy Lin28.7 Donald Sloan28.4 Mike Conley (Bronze)28.3 Tony Parker28.2 Brandon Knight28.1 Jarrett Jack27.9 Darren Collison27.5 Jameer Nelson (Silver)27.5 Beno Udrih27.1 George Hill26.9 Kemba Walker26.9 Eric Bledsoe26.7 Nate Robinson25.7 Steve Blake25.7 Phil Pressey25.2 Reggie Jackson24.7 Kyrie Irving (Bronze)22.8 Isaiah Thomas (Bronze)That last one just made me vomit in my mouth a little.Andre Miller: 9th All-Time in Assists (NO BADGE)Isaiah Thomas: 29 more assists than Miller in 561 additional minutes. I'm guessing 2K Sports went to the Charles Barkley Skool of Analytics. Or maybe they confused Isaiah with Isiah (7th All-Time in Assists)?2K has some idea of what they're doing up top but clearly have no idea who is in the middle tier of passers - exemplified by the fact that there are only four "Silver" Dimer players in the entire league. That's less than 1% of all NBA players.WINGS (20+ AST%)38.0 LeBron James (Bronze)36.5 Dwyane Wade35.0 James Harden (Bronze)31.9 Manu Ginobili30.0 Kobe Bryant29.4 Tyreke Evans27.3 Lance Stephenson26.2 Evan Turner23.7 Kevin Durant22.7 Monta Ellis21.4 Gordon Hayward20.3 Rudy Gay19.9 Nicholas BatumCAREER AST%31.96 Dwyane Wade (35th)28.77 Allen Iverson (57th)26.25 Tracy McGrady (87th)25.19 Clyde Drexler (97th)25.15 Manu Ginobili (98th)24.93 Michael Jordan (101st)24.43 Kobe Bryant (105th)Dwyane Wade: The best passing SG of all-time. No Dimer badge.Marco Belinelli: 36 Career Dunks (1.0% of FGA). Bronze Posterizer.I rest my case.BIGS (15+ AST%)25.7 Blake Griffin22.1 Josh Smith20.5 David West19.6 Boris Diaw19.1 Al Horford19.0 DeMarcus Cousins18.9 Marc Gasol18.1 Joakim Noah (Bronze)18.0 Josh McRoberts16.9 Tim Duncan16.8 David Lee15.6 Andrew Bogut15.3 Draymond Green15.1 Zaza Pachulia14.9 Pau Gasol14.9 Paul MillsapIt bears noting that the Post Playmaker badge (the big man version of Dimer) was removed after NBA 2K14 and no longer exists. These badges had identical functions (Post Playmaker triggering only out of Post situations, Dimer everywhere else), but instead of consolidating the badge and distributing Dimer to deserving big men, 2K just gave the badge to Noah and called it a day. Sloppy, short sighted, and devastating to the game's mechanics.2K also removed the "Catch and Shoot" badge (aka Spot Up Shooter in 2K13).

"This shooter is known for his ability to spot-up and knock down perimeter shots while shooting from a stand-still position. The penalty that users receive for bad shot timing (i.e. releasing the shot too early or too late) is decreased by 30%. This skill becomes available when the player is standing still, shooting 12 to 28 feet from the hoop and not posted up or dribbling."

The biggest complaint about the shooting meter is that release timing has too great an impact on shot quality, especially with regard to the league's top shooters who should be money when left open. In five months worth of critiques I've read on this subject (including this poll, launched by 2K's Gameplay Director), NONE have factored in the absence of this badge.

SKILL

2K14

2K15

NET

Posterizer

15

87

+72

Microwave

12

77

+62

Volume Shooter

0

48

+48

Tenacious Rebounder

26

63

+37

Dimer

15

22

+7

Post Playmaker

14

0

-14

Catch and Shoot

46

0

-46

By removing Catch and Shoot, the Dimer skill bonus becomes more important than ever to prospective shooters in NBA 2K. Yet the assist bonus has never rarer for a game promoting it's badge diversity. Moving forward, 2K obviously needs to address this. Spot-Ups make up a little more than 1/3rd of all NBA possessions. The game will not resemble NBA basketball or maintain a high level of balance if generating rudimentary looks isn't properly rewarded. Conversely, there is no doubt the game rewards dunking and chucking.

2K Sports has their game on the cusp of greatness, and it would be a shame if technical oversights like this lead to it never achieving it's goals. The game does an excellent job of immersing a player in NBA culture, but the on-court product still leaves a lot to be desired.